Not Your Usual Fairy Tale
by sunset oasis
Summary: "She's like the princess captured by the bad villain, and he's like Prince Charming, along with his knight in shining armour on a mission to rescue her." Luna said. "But in the end, this isn't a story about the prince and the princess but about the prince and the knight, and nor is the villain really a villain." BZDM slash. Tomione. TheoPansyLuna Threesome. Evil!Dumbledore.
1. The Princess Kidnapped

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

A.N: This is a good!Voldemort story and includes some Dumbledore bashing. Also includes slash pairing and threesome pairings. Just a word of warning.

Also it's my first take at Tomione, and I'm not really sure how it's gonna evolve later at this writing stage, to be honest.

Reviews are loved : )

* * *

Head Auror Draco Malfoy was starting to get worried. One of the most competent auror in their department, Hermione Granger, hadn't returned from her research on Lord Voldemort since 3 months ago. The first few weeks she sent occasional owls back ensuring them her safety, but the last letter, exactly 2 months ago, said that she would be venturing deep into the enemy base and it would be best not to keep owling back in order to stay unnoticed.

He trusted her competency. And despite sometimes annoyed with her bossy attitude, he grudgingly respected her talent for being a brilliant auror with excellent skills. He knew she had a good reason not to make contact with them, but frankly, 2 months without single letter or at least a patronus was deeply worrisome.

Draco knew Voldemort was probably a lot tougher than their usual auror assignments, but if it continued like this, he considered begin sending in reinforcements.

Actually, Potter and Weasley were both insisting that he sent help since a month ago, but Draco knew that if Hermine was actually safe and they foiled her plans in collecting information, she would get very, _very_ annoyed. He'd rather not piss Granger off, and frankly, Draco really thought that her best friends should have at least some faith in her competency.

But after two months without contact, even Draco had to admit something was probably wrong. He now started considering what those two Gryffindor idiots had suggested.

"Draco," Blaise Zabini, the second in command auror next to Draco, walked into his office. Instead of his usual smirk, he wore a serious expression as he headed towards Draco with a letter in his hand.

At once Draco knew that things must be pretty serious when _Blaise_ put on that face.

"Is it Granger?" He said sharply, eyeing the letter.

"Yes and no," Blaise answered in a cryptic way as he hold out the letter for Draco to read. "It's about her, but not from her."

 ** _"_**

 ** _Malfoy,_**

 ** _Your auror Granger is now in our Lord's hand. I want to defect from him and become double agent – I'll help you get Granger out. I'll need you to come and get her out yourself because I can't risk helping her escape. I can also offer various inside information, too. Under the condition you guaranteed to clear my name if I'm captured as a death eater._**

 ** _Don't send a massive group to save her or he'll get suspicious someone informed you, you need to keep quiet while helping her and make it look like she escaped herself._**

 ** _If we have a deal, contact me for further information on Granger's exact whereabouts._**

 ** _p.s. Our lord has someone planted in your department. So don't go around announcing this. Just tell a selected, trusted few._**

 ** _Yaxley_**

 ** _"_**

"If you ask me, that looked a lot like a trap," Blaise admitted. "But it doesn't mean that Granger _isn't_ in danger."

Spot on observation, summing up the situation pretty well.

"Luna's the one who picked up the auror mails today, and Pans and Theo both know as well. That three never keep any secret away from each other." Blaise grimaced a little. "I'd suggest we keep this information to ourselves first and not let anyone else know so I've already told the triad to stay quiet. I suspect Potter and Weasley would probably rush in to save her with a whole group of people and without any plans whatsoever if they know. And I'm worried about who's the traitor here."

Draco nodded, grateful for how Blaise had handle it for him. "Good. Well, since the triad already knew, we might as well pull them into discussion and see if they have any ideas."

"I thought so too, so I've told them to meet us here at eleven."

At this, Draco chuckled. _He really knew me well, didn't he?_ "Merlin, Blaise, what would I do without you?"

"Yelling at Potter and Weasley and trying to stop them from storming to You-Know-Who's base?" Blaise raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Malfoys don't yell," Draco said indignantly. "We have manners."

"If you say so, boss," Blaise replied mockingly as he turn to leave Draco's office, leaving a spluttering Head Auror behind as he called back on his way out, "I think Malfoys don't splutter either, or do they, Draco?"

Before Draco could hex him, Blaise closed the door of Draco's office.

* * *

To say that Hermione was surprised to find that Voldemort was NOT the murderous, muggle-born hating psycho everyone thought was an understatement. To know that it had been _Albus Dumbledore_ who had framed him for a lot of crimes to get him out of Dumbledore's path to 'the greater good' was even more shocking.

Hermione felt like her world had been turned upside down. Yet she was confident with her abilities of auror and detective skills to believe her deductions from the evidence, or confident enough to directly go ask Voldemort about it. If it turned out the information was somehow false, she believed herself skilled enough to escape, anyway.

Voldemort himself had been surprised that someone from the aurors had managed to come to the correct conclusion. He had thought most of them were tricked by the old coot just like the rest of the wizarding world. He had thought everyone had been fed of the lie of Dumbledore.

Opposed to Dumbledore who wanted to integrate the muggles into the wizarding world to extend his hand of power the muggles and rule over them, Tom had wanted to cut the ties to the minimum, lest it lead to some medieval witch-hunt. He used to be Dumbledore's star pupil until the old man realized their difference in ideals and Tom's strong power and decided to frame him of multiple crimes to get him out of the way.

They were both surprised by that they shared some very similar experiences when they were young, frown upon and laughed by Muggles who saw them doing accidental magic.

"I had gather enough evidence by now that I could overturn Dumbledore's statement," Hermione finally said. "Though the public might not want to believe it, as they are too trusting of Dumbledore."

"I believe that old coot had some people planted in the auror department as well," Voldemort told her his concerns. "If you just go back and announce these evidence, someone might try to destroy them for him. I'm already making some plan of that old man's downfall, now these new evidences you gathered could help, too."

"And I think some aurors would be able to help too. You don't have any people in the ministry, it's hard to bring him down that way. The public wouldn't believe anything you and your death eaters say."

"But how do you know the ones you invited weren't Dumbledore's men?" he asked.

"Well …" she hesitated. "For one, my head auror had never really liked Dumbledore. He opposes to quite a few of the man's idea. Though he wasn't my favorite person around and he's an arrogant bastard, I think he's at least trustworthy."

"Disliking Dumbledore could just be a pretense," Voldemort pointed out. "What house is he in, by the way?"

"Slytherin," she hesitated again, thinking okay it probably wasn't the most trustworthy house around …

"Well, I have more faith in him now," Voldemort sounded slightly satisfied. "We do have house pride, after all. Never associate with someone like Dumbledore."

 _Oh, house pride,_ Hermione thought amusedly and rolled her eyes.

"We should try to get some of the aurors you're sure you can trust to help us. Though I think we should make it seemed like you were captured and make them come her to look for you, so Dumbledore wouldn't suspect anything."

"I'll try and contact the auror department," Yaxley volunteered. "Tell them we have her and I'll offer to be double-agent and her whereabouts. Also make him keep quiet about this thing. Who's this head auror you said you trust?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Good. I'll go and write a letter to tell your Prince Charming to come and rescue you," Yaxley smirked.

"Prince Charming?" Hermione scoffed. "He might be trustworthy, but he's far from Prince Charming and closer to arrogant arsehole."

-TBC-


	2. The Villain at New York

"You-Know-Who put Granger at his base is at the States? At _New York_?" Theo asked incredulously at Draco, who just announced he got Yaxley's reply about the location. "Are you kidding me?"

"How does he even have a base in America?" Pansy demanded, who had been leaning against on Luna and her legs resting on Theo's, sat up a straighter.

"He might want to lure some of the aurors to America, easier for him to attack London this way," Blaise frowned, twirling a quill in his hand.

"True. The regulations on traveling to the continent and to the States are completely different level of complicatedness." Draco agreed. "It'll be harder for the aurors there to get back."

"But he asked you to keep quiet about this," Luna pointed out reasonably. "If he didn't do that, we might send more people and leave London with less aurors."

"Or he knew he could trick us into thinking there's no attack on London this way," Blaise argued.

"There's a simple solution. I'll go to New York by myself. Surely you guys can handle London without me?" Draco decided.

"I'm coming with you," Blaise said immediately. "You can't go alone, this still might be a trap and Yaxley's dangerous."

"I'm perfectly capable," Draco waved his hand dismissively. "Granger went alone, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and she got captured!" Blaise snapped. "You're _not_ going alone. I'm coming with you." He repeated. He perfectly believed in Draco's abilities, but he also didn't think the whole thing seemed safe. Besides, he cared for Draco a lot more than a normal second in command cared for his boss, and couldn't bear the thought of letting Draco go alone.

"But you're second in command, I need you stay here in charge," frowned Draco, who was completely oblivious of Blaise's feelings. "Maybe I could take Theo."

Blaise's mouth twitched. It was a reasonable idea of Draco, since Blaise was the most experienced person aside from Draco when it came to leading the aurors. Well, he had another card to play … "I've been to New York twice, my third stepfather had a place there. It makes more sense to take me."

"And you were, what, twelve at that time?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "We're not going to the tourist spots this time, I doubt that having been to New York would make much difference. You're the second in charge here, we can't both just go. One of us has to stay here."

Blaise gave Draco a long, hard stare before giving a stiff nod. "Yes, _boss._ "

* * *

"I should thank you, you know, I've never got a chance to visit New York before," Hermione grinned, taking a sip of coffee. "Investigating you brought me here."

"America's a good country," Voldemort smirked, "free from Dumbledore's clutches."

"I can't believe that many people in the ministry are working for him," Hermione scowled, looking through the information Voldemort had collected throughout these years.

"The British Ministry is thoroughly corrupted," Voldemort shrugged impassively. "Though I guess it really depends on how you define corrupt, I guess. Some people think it doesn't count if it's 'for the greater good.'" He sneered slightly, disgust evident in his voice.

"Let me introduce you my familiar," Voldemort waved for Nagini to climb to them. The large snake gracefully glided through the floor, and Hermione suddenly looked a little wary.

"Don't worry, she won't bite you," he patiently explained. "It can sense whether I believe you as an enemy or not." Then he said in Parseltongue, " _Nagini, this is Hermione Granger, she is the guest here and you should treat her politely._ "

" _Yes, master_ ," Nagini hissed back in Parseltongue then glided onto Hermione's feet, she remained a little tensed first, but after the snake just slid around idly and did nothing else, Hermione relaxed slightly.

"She likes you," Voldemort laughed. It was a friendly laugh she wouldn't believe as something that came from his mouth if it had been 3 months ago.

* * *

"Yaxley said You-Know-Who's snake would be guarding her," Draco tapped on the letter. "I've never met the snake, but from what I've heard it's a nasty thing."

"It seems almost poetic," Luna said dreamily. "Our auror princess locked somewhere in the city jungle in America, with something reptilian beast guarding her."

Everyone else stared at her.

"Except in the legends, it's mostly a dragon guarding the kidnapped Princess instead of a snake, of course," Luna continued.

"Well, it seems almost romantic," Theo finally said. "Draco, you're gonna be her savior."

"To the hell with romantic, its Granger we're talking about here," Draco rolled his eyes, "I'm never going to touch a —"

"A muggleborn?" Theo drawled in amusement.

"I was going to say woman." Draco said impatiently.

"Potter would be ecstatic to hear this," Pansy smirked. "He's always ranting about you, I'm almost sure he's got a thing for you."

Draco merely rolled his eyes in disgust but Blaise tensed slightly, his expression twisting into a scowl slightly but he quickly concealed it.

"Enough about romance and poetry," Draco said coolly. "So now we have a few things on our to-do-list. Researching spells for snakes, getting the papers for applying for a portkey to the States, some America muggle money just in case, and anything important information you can find about Manhattan."

* * *

"Tell me something about yourself," Hermione said. "Let's not always talk about Dumbledore, we could relax for a little bit."

"Well …" Voldemort pondered. "When I was in Hogwarts, I was the top of my year. Every year, from first to seven." He said smugly.

"Nothing special," Hermione shrugged, totally unimpressed. "So was I."

Voldemort quirked an eyebrow, then said challengingly, "I'm talented in potions. I've brewed my first Draught of Living Death in my fourth year."

"I've first brewed the Polyjuice in my second." She shot back, smirking.

"Well, Polyjuice is easier," Voldemort waved his hand dismissively. She scowled and he smirked.

* * *

"Theo … can I you ask a favor?" Blaise asked, almost hesitant.

"You want to go to New York with him," Theo stated flatly. It wasn't a question.

"I'm not doubting your ability to go on that mission," Blaise hastened to add, "It's just …"

"I know," Theo said knowingly. "Don't worry. But you probably shouldn't let him know this change of plan until the last minute." He advised.

"You know?" Blaise asked incredulously, stunned.

"It's rather obvious," Theo smirked. "Not to Draco though, but I've realized it since long ago. Luna claimed that she knew even earlier than I did, which I didn't believe, since _I_ was the one who shared a dorm with you guys back in Hogwarts."

* * *

"I'm going to miss Theo," Pansy sighed as she played with Luna's hair, the blonde girl straddling her.

"Don't worry, it might not be him who's going," Luna said confidently.

"Why? Draco's word is the final decision. I know Blaise want to go with him, but he's going to listen to Draco."

"I have a feeling he cares for him too much to be willing to listen in this case. Just a hunch."

-TBC-

* * *

A.N: Thanks for the favs and follows, R&R please : )


	3. The Knight's Secret Change of Plan

_A.N: Here's a new chapter with some progress in the Tomione relationship! R &R please, thanks : )_

* * *

Hermione looked out of the window from the tenth floor of Tom's base building in New York, a building invisible and inaccessible to muggles, between two hotels on 32nd street, Manhattan. The city view was quite remarkable, numerous buildings popping up all over the city forming a beautiful skyline, narrow streets slithering in between and cars filled them. She smiled at the incredible city scenery.

"Tom, is there any chance I could visit the Central Park? I've always wanted to go there since I'm a child." She asked, remember reading about the big park as a child.

"Sure, you're not a prisoner here, but remember to put on a glamour charm so someone won't accidentally recognize you and the news might get back to Dumbledore." Tom laughed. "You're going to the Bow Alley?"

"The Bow Alley?" Hermione asked, confused.

"It's … sort of like the Manhattan version of Diagon Alley, you can get there by Bow Bridge in the Central Park." Tom explained and began to tell her about the specific instructions on how to enter the Bow Alley.

* * *

Theo went to the Transportation Department of the Ministry and acquired the portkey and paperwork for travelling to America for Draco and Blaise, though to Draco's knowledge Theo was doing this for Draco and himself. He also acquired the permission to use most magic while they were at America, but some spells were still restricted for foreign wizards, including apparition.

After giving Draco his share of paperwork and portkey, Theo excused himself saying he wanted some alone time with his girls but went to find Blaise and gave him the required stuff. Draco, taking pity of the fact that Theo would be away from his girls for as long as their mission, let him.

"Here, Blaise, your portkey with your magic aura signature keyed in, I've already given Draco his," Theo handed Blaise a small blue locket and some papers, "and this is the required paperwork."

"Thanks," Blaise gave him a grateful smile, "and Draco still has no idea it's me that's going yet?"

"Not a single clue," Theo shook his head, "but you better be prepared to face his wrath when you two head off… By the way, the girls say thanks for volunteering to go, they want to keep me here." He chuckled.

"When Draco explodes, can I say so?" Blaise asked wryly.

"No," Theo glared at him, "because you're the one who wanted to do this the most. If you weren't interested in going, they might want me to stay, but in the end I'd still be going."

Blaise held up his hands in surrender, "Alright, alright, I'm all there's to blame, I'll remember that."

* * *

Both wearing glamour charms, Tom and Hermione strolled along the Central Park. They ventured deeper into the natural environment, away from muggle tourists. The outer part had tourists walking around, but when they got into the more inside parts they both enjoyed the peaceful and quiet environment with few people around.

As they chatted and walked, Hermione began to admire Tom's charm. He was older than her, but his handsome face showed more maturity than age. The maturity attracted her, for she found the guys close to her age usually too childish to her taste. But having lived a longer and harsher life of being framed, Tom's experiences made him more attractive in Hermione's eyes.

Despite the maturity, good skin-maintaining charms and constant workout had ensured him to look not too old and retain some of the handsomeness from his youth. So, mature yet still good looking, a golden combination that caught Hermione Granger's interest and attention.

* * *

Luna's expression instantly turned into misery when Draco walked into the office kitchen. She had been making a sandwich for herself quite cheerfully, but she understood the importance of looking downcast when Draco was around, so he wouldn't suspect about Blaise replacing Theo in the mission.

"Luna," Draco greeted her as he walked over to pour some coffee for himself.

"Don't drink too much coffee, or you might not be able to sleep well at night," she advised, "You'll need to be physically well-prepared for tomorrow's mission."

Draco nodded, "I'll just drink a little, don't worry. And you remember to tell Theo that too."

"Pansy and I've already made some hot chocolate for him to replace his usual black coffee," she said briskly, following through their plan of 'not get Draco suspicious.'

Draco nodded again in approval, and felt that Theo was really a lucky guy, to have his girls worrying over him and helping him. He was a little envious, not really about the girls because he wasn't interested in girls, nor about multiple mates because he wasn't interested in threesomes either, but just about having someone that would care about him the way Luna and Pansy cared about Theo.

* * *

Hermione and Tom had dinner at their dinner at a restaurant called Lombardi's at Little Italy. Tom had told her this restaurant was quite old, nearly a hundred years since it had first opened. He also recommended their standard pizza, which Hermione loved instantly after trying it.

Halfway through dinner, they decided they had had enough fun for today and should focus on more important stuff, like the specific details of how to bring Dumbledore down after her fellow aurors arrived. They also needed to find out who was trustworthy in the Law Department and get those people to help look through their evidence.

Tom also said that having some media help would be good, but he didn't have that sort of connections with the British media. Luckily, Hermione offered help in this aspect and told him how Rita Skeeter owed her a favor.

* * *

The next morning, before the mission started, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and Luna gathered at the meeting room.

"So, the portkey would take us to the American Ministry, which is at Washington D.C.," Theo told the gathered group, "We're not allowed to apparate, but there's a train for wizards called the Golden Express that runs on the East side of America, so we'll take that. Once we've got to New York, we'll owl you guys. Don't let the others know see the letter though."

"I want souvenir, Theo," Pansy interrupted.

"There's a Nargle's museum at Brooklyn," Luna added, "If you have a chance to visit after the mission, you can buy at their gift shop."

The girls were playing their roles splendidly and Draco didn't suspected a thing, and Blaise was wondered if Theo would make him really buy souvenirs for his two girlfriends.

"Sure, sure," Theo said, "souvenirs, darlings. But only after the mission is completed."

"Right," Draco nodded. "Only after the mission. Now, if that's everything … we'd better get going on our 'Save the Auror Princess Mission'." He picked up the locket and prepared the press the activating button.

"Give us some alone time?" Theo asked as he gestured towards Pansy and Luna. Draco rolled his eyes but agreed, saying he'll go first and ask them not to take too long.

Once Draco was gone, Blaise immediately took all the necessary stuff from Theo, stuffed in his bag, then prepared to activate his own portkey.

"Good luck, mate," Theo said, "and stay safe." He told him sincerely. Blaise nodded his thanks.

"Good luck, with both the mission and Draco," Pansy smirked. Blaise blushed at this, then grimaced as he knew he would be dealing with a very irritated and angry boss soon, when the said boss found out he and Theo hadn't followed the original plan.

"Good luck, take care of yourself and Draco and Hermione," Luna said.

Blaise nodded once again and pressed the activation key. Part of him was glad that he and Theo's replacing plan had worked and he could go on the mission with Draco and protect him; another part was dreading the soon to come scolding he would face once Draco realized this change of plan and their disregard for his original orders.

Feeling as if the floor his was standing on being pulled away, Blaise closed his eyes and tried to get over the nauseating feeling of international transporting. Moments later, he landed again as he opened his eyes and took in the views of the Transportation Office of America Ministry and a shocked Draco Malfoy.

As Blaise tried to get over the whirling feeling of travelling through portkey, he blinked nervously and took a tentative step towards his boss. His boss, whose face just dawned with comprehension and whose mouth contorted into an angry snarl.

Blaise took a deep breath and braced himself of what was surely to come.

-TBC-


	4. The Prince was Furious

"What are you doing here and where the hell is Theo?" Draco growled, his eyes flashing dangerously. Despite his rage, Draco still managed to think clearly, and he knew that this must have been pre-planned. The portkey should be designed to transport Theo and Theo only to this place. If Blaise was here, than he and Theo must have been preparing all the paperwork to fit this change of plan.

No, this definitely wasn't some sudden decision. It was a well-thought plan that disregarded his orders about the mission. Draco narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest as Blaise stepped forward hesitantly.

"I'm sorry … but it's a change of plan," Blaise said as calmly as he could muster. He glanced around the place, the portkey arrival point was a small room with a few sofas and a counter by the door, where an American Ministry employee stood. He glanced at the employee who was looking on interestedly, and his eyes pled silently to Draco that they took this argument somewhere without others around.

Draco glared at Blaise, but figured he didn't want to look like losing his professionality in front of the American Ministry employee, so he said nothing for the moment and just gestured Blaise to give the necessary paperwork to the employee.

Once they were out in the corridor alone, Draco turned to Blaise and slammed him towards the wall and hissed, "Did you directly disobey my instructions?"

Blaise, pressed against the wall, had to fight the urge to close his eyes as Draco leant towards him, radiating with anger. Draco, like most Slytherins, usually have a better control over emotions than the Gryffindors and his was good at maintaining his image in the public. But now there was just the two of them, Blaise could see Draco not bothering with pretense.

What was worse, was that Blaise could still see the attractiveness of Draco when his boss was angry. The fiery attitude radiating heat, he would've enjoyed it if the circumstances were different. The angry, clenched jaw that still look so perfect and angular – just, damn. It was bothering him greatly and he just wanted to close his eyes and ignore the tension between them.

Blaise's mind was racing, thinking how he could answer. Well, the most honest and direct answer would be 'yes', but Blaise thought that the question was rather rhetorical anyway, since they both knew if Blaise followed the instructions he should never be here. Maybe he could bring up Theo … even if he did promised his friend that he would take all responsibilities, Theo wasn't here right now was he? What's here right was an angry Draco Malfoy. He could deal with Theo anyway … but wait, there were his two girlfriends that might be a problem. Pansy was a total Slytherin girl, and Luna, despite her innocent appearance, wouldn't mind making his life a living hell with Pansy in her own subtle way.

Still shoved against the wall by Draco, Blaise bit his lips and said the only thing he could, "I'm sorry."

"Who came up with this stupid idea?" Draco growled, his hands still firmly grasping Blaise's shoulders.

"I did," Blaise said in a strained voice. "I'm sorry."

"And pray tell, why?"

 _Because I'm so unprofessional and I love you so I can't stand waiting behind in London. Because I wanted to be there with you if there's a danger. No, that won't do. Because Theo wanted to stay with his girlfriends? No, that won't work either, they'll murder me when I get back._ "I missed doing field work, it's a lot more interesting than staying in the office doing management." Blaise said, knowing Draco would _not_ appreciate this answer.

He was right.

* * *

Tom and Hermione sat on a sofa at the tenth floor of Tom's base building, Nagini curled around them. Hermione was examining Nagini's skin closely, one hand holding the snake gently and another running across her body, feeling the smoothness and dryness of the dark green patterns she's tracing.

"She's so beautiful," Hermione breathed, totally in awe. "I've never really gotten any chance to see a snake up close. And the skin … so smooth."

"Jealous?" Tom teased.

Hermione laughed, "No, not really. I'm never the one to care much about appearances, to be honest."

"Only the rich have the privilege to not care about the money," Tom smirked, "so only the beauties have the privilege to not care about appearances."

She laughed even more upon hearing that. "Oh, Tom," she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, "I'm not pretty. But I have to say, you do really know how to compliment a woman."

Tom raised an eyebrow, "what, you don't think you're pretty?"

"Well, I guess I'm not overly hideous," she was still laughing. "But nowhere near pretty. I mean, I don't wear make-up and I don't dress according to the latest fashion either, unlike most girls. And I have never got a boyfriend."

"As I said, the beauties have the privilege to not care about all those trivial stuff such as make-up," Tom said easily. "They're beautiful by default and don't need other decorations like most."

"Oh, you sweet-mouthed Slytherin," she grinned.

Tom was impressed by the young woman's non-caring attitude about make-up and fashion trends. She was obviously smart and efficient, and someone who valued herself with her brain rather than appearance. While Tom did like this attitude, he could guessed that most people around her valued her in the same way too, a competent, smart, hard-working auror. Probably no one around her ever mentioned or even noticed her good looks to her. Hence why she easily dismissed what he said about her beauty as merely sweet-talks or formalities.

"I can assure you I'm not the sweet-mouth type," Tom wagged a finger at her playfully, "I'm the honest type."

"An honest Slytherin?" She challenged, smirking.

"Maybe not about politics or wars or that, but I don't lie about a woman's beauty," he said, caressing Nagini.

She laughed again, but more genuine this time, "Then you've got a different taste than most. But I appreciate it, thanks."

* * *

"You traded Theo just because you're bored with office work and want to come onto a mission?" Draco seethed.

Blaise was getting more and more uncomfortable. He wished Draco would just punch him or something, he might feel better this way. But his boss just stood there, pressing his shoulders tightly and glaring at him with those pretty grey eyes – he wondered how long he could stand the tension. Blaise breathed heavily and prayed again that Draco would just punch him or slap him or anything.

 _No, I just wanted to make sure you're safe personally, Boss Dearest._ "I'm sorry," he said, voice tight.

Draco stepped backwards slightly and stood back, folding his arms across his chest. Blaise eased slightly as the space between them appeared again.

"All the paperwork and the portkey stuff and your traveling bag …" Draco said coldly, "you've been planning this, haven't you?"

He might as well admit it anyway. "Yes," Blaise sighed. "I'm sorry. But that also means I could probably handle this as good as – or even better – than if Theo had come."

"I don't doubt your abilities," Draco snapped. "In fact, your abilities are why you're the only one I trust to manage the stuff best when I'm gone."

"I'm sure the others will manage just fine," Blaise countered calmly, having better control of himself now with Draco slightly backing down. "It's the London Office and it's in the Ministry, they have the resources and everything else there. And they're not on a mission, they don't need to be at top performance. But our mission needs that."

"Well, I can't send you back now," Draco said coldly. "But there will be serious consequences for disobeying my orders later when we got back."

 _Not that I'd expect anything less, but as long as you're safe I don't care …_ "Understood." Blaise said evenly.

-TBC-

* * *

 _A.N: Some tension between Draco and Blaise, and some fluff between Tom and Hermione! Hope you guys enjoy it : ) R &R please._


	5. An Accidental Confession, and a Kiss

_A.N: Thanks for all those who favorited or followed or reviewed, you guys are lovely!_

* * *

Draco was still pretty furious with Blaise, but he also knew there wasn't much he could do now except for continuing this mission with him. At least he knew Blaise was competent. At least he knew Blaise wouldn't mess the job up. He was just worried about what if things went wrong back in the London Office now he and the second-in-command were both here.

And he didn't like his aurors disobeying him. _That_ was the main problem here. Even if things went smoothly both back in London and here, it wouldn't change the fact that Blaise had outright _defied_ his instructions. All just because he wanted be on a mission instead of staying back doing office work.

They were now on the Golden Express, a wizarding train that ran along the East side of America. It would be another two hours before they arrived at New York City. Now they were sitting in a top-class compartment alone (because the Malfoys always used the best stuff), each reading over their own paperwork and ignoring the other.

After some time of not talking to each other, Blaise hesitantly broke the silence as he held up some paper in his hands and looked at Draco, "Um, Dra—Boss? I've been in contact with some old friends in New York … they had some information about the address Yaxley sent us."

Draco glared at Blaise, who met his gaze back unflinchingly. "Just how long have you been preparing this?"

Blaise closed his eyes for a moment and sighed wearily, "Does it matter? I would've done this even if I didn't planned to come. I would've tried to get some information for you and Theo even if I was staying back in London."

No, Draco supposed it didn't matter. It just reminded him of Blaise's insubordination again, that was all. It was … rather unusual, to be honest, now he came to think about it. Blaise was his friend and he teased him a little sometimes, but when it came to stuff about work he was highly professional. If he didn't agree with Draco's decisions he would voice very professional opinions and analyze things. If they still didn't agree in the end he would still accept Draco's judgement, being the good second-in-command he was.

So, it was quite out of character of him to challenge Draco on this just because he wanted to do some field work instead of staying back in the office. It just wasn't … Blaise.

"You lied about the reason," Draco said, in a sudden realization. But he still couldn't figure out why. Was it because Theo and his girlfriends? Was he trying to take the blame for them? But that didn't really make sense either. It wasn't a big enough incentive for him to do this.

"Well," Blaise turned his face away and stared at the wall of the compartment, "maybe that's my subtle way of saying 'trust me, you really don't want to know the truth'."

* * *

Yaxley had given the aurors the address of the place where 'The Dark Lord kept Granger prisoner'. It was in not the address of the flat on 32nd Street which served as Tom's main base and the one that they were currently living in, but another apartment not far away. Tom wanted to make sure first that only the Head Auror and maybe one or two of his agents came, but not the whole squad. It would complicate stuff if more people came, and there were always a chance someone might be loyal to the Dumbledore and his evil schemes.

Hermione said the Head Auror was an arrogant bastard but still a trustworthy one, so Tom trusted her judgement. He wasn't so sure about Draco Malfoy's judgement, though, hence he wanted to lure him into another flat and observe the situation first, just to be sure only a selected few came, and none of them on the list of people he suspected that worked for Dumbledore's schemes.

Now he and Hermione sat in the study as they sorted through all the evidence against Dumbledore and discussed who in the Ministry could be of help in exposing Dumbledore's actions and wouldn't try to destroy the evidence.

Tom really liked working with Hermione. She was smart and efficient, and she could grasp his thoughts quicker than any other he had met. It was like they were on the same wavelength with each other all the time. Tom truly enjoyed the company of such an intelligent and beautiful woman.

As they took a break from the work and drank some English tea – they were both still very British even if they were currently in America now – and chatted. About Hogwarts, about politics, about New York, about a lot of things. Except perhaps for Quidditch. He admitted that while he flew okay during flying lessons, he really wasn't particularly interested in that sport. She had laughed out in delight at that, claiming many of her friend were Quidditch-obsessed to a point that annoyed her.

"You have good tastes when it comes to hobbies," she said playfully.

"I have good tastes when it comes to women, too," he smirked, "so believe me when I say you're beautiful."

She blushed slightly but rolled her eyes, "Slytherins. Seriously. Always know how to sweet-talk a girl, huh?"

"So you think we Slytherins are sweet-mouthed, huh?" He imitated her tone when he said the word 'huh'. Before she could reply, he added, "Want to check it for yourself?" He licked his lips suggestively and winked.

Hermione blinked.

* * *

Draco's head flashed across all sort of possibilities, including some that suggested Blaise wanted to come because he was involved in something illegal in America and needed to come solve it. He eyes flashed sharply as his grip on his wand tightened.

"It's not like what you think," Blaise saw his expression and sighed. "Nothing illegal or immoral involved. Honestly."

"How can I trust you? You've not been someone trustworthy lately." Draco raised his eyebrows coldly. "You defied my instructions and deceived me into thinking Theo's still the one coming with me."

"And I'm sorry," Blaise said quietly, his voice an anguish whisper. "Please, Draco. I really am. I have – my reasons – and it's nothing illegal or anything like that. It's just – I just – damn." He ran a hand through his dark curls in frustration.

"Just what?" Draco demanded. "What, Blaise?"

Blaise bit his lips and closed his eyes, suddenly looking tired and painful. "Look, I'm sorry, but I think this might affect our mission if you know so I'd rather not talk about it now."

"You guarantee it's not something that would affect our mission if you keep it to yourself during this time?" Draco squinted at Blaise.

"Yes," Blaise said softly. "Won't affect our mission. I'm not secretly involved in an illegal activity or anything."

"And you'll tell me once it's over?" Draco pressed.

"I don't really want to make such a promise…" Blaise sighed, "But if you insist…" He didn't think Draco returned his feelings, and he feared things would be a lot more awkward between the two of them if he confessed his love. No need to make things awkward for both of them and affect their work.

"Then I insist," Draco said coolly.

"You'll regret this," Blaise warned. _You'll regret knowing after you reject me and we get super-awkward that affect us working together. You'd blame me for telling you._

"Promise me you'll tell me after or I'll make you tell me now," Draco snapped.

"You'll regret _this_ even more," Blaise grimaced.

"I could use Legilimency on you," Draco said darkly.

"Lucky that I know Occulmency then," Blaise countered. "Draco – _please_."

"You're hiding something," Draco muttered accusingly.

"I thought we already established _that_ ," Blaise said in slight exasperation. "Trust me, Draco, some things are best stay hidden, some feelings are best left unsaid—"

"Feelings?" Draco interrupted. "What feelings? Your feelings towards what, exactly?"

Blaise bit his lips, instantly regretting of the slip. _How could I be so stupid?_ He silently berated himself.

Draco frowned, trying to piece everything together. _Feelings? Towards what? Field work? This wasn't something that was 'best left unsaid'. Could Blaise possibly meant … but that just seemed … okay, not he came to think about it, not that impossible._

Draco tried to look Blaise in the eyes, but the latter was determinedly avoiding his gaze. "I didn't mean to say it," Blaise whispered. "How about we just ignore this and get back to work?" _Surely he would realize this was the best option since he didn't return my feelings. We could just pretend nothing happened and go on._

Draco stared at Blaise. He never thought his best friend would have romantic feelings for him. He found himself okay with that – and this attitude surprised even himself. Because if he had to be honest, Blaise was someone who understood him best, someone who he always felt comfortable around, someone who cared about him more than anybody else – damn, how could he have been so stupid to _not_ realize Blaise's motives for coming!

And he did quite like being cared about like this. He thought about how he had been thinking yesterday about Theo having Luna and Pansy caring about him and how he had been a little envious. But upon reflection, he had always had Blaise. Blaise took care a lot of things for him. Blaise was always worried about his safety and concerned about his well-being. Always there when he needed it (and when he didn't need it, too). _How come I never realized before how much Blaise supported him?_

"I did tell you you'd regret it," Blaise said with a grim, dark smile, sensing Draco had figured it out. He considered denying it, but Draco was too smart to be misled so Blaise decided he would just get this over as fast as he could. "It's okay, I understand you probably don't reciprocate those feelings, I don't mind staying as friends, now about the address we were discussing—" Blaise attempted to get back to their original subject, but failed when Draco interrupted him.

"Blaise," Draco snapped. "Shut up about the address, we haven't finished about this."

"Draco—"

"I'm … willing to try," Draco said, softly.

Blaise blinked in surprise and slowly turned his head back to face Draco, "what?"

* * *

If someone had told Hermione before that this particular mission would lead to her kissing Voldemort willingly, she would've said that person was insane. But, here she was, her lips pressed against Tom and this should feel wrong because he was so much older than her but it just felt right for some unknown reason.

Tom must've guessed what she was thinking as he chuckled, "if it makes you feel better, I'm not as old as you imagined. Well, still older than you are, of course, but not around seventy as you had probably previously thought."

She frowned, trying to figure out what he meant.

"According to the wizarding history, I disappeared for a very long time when I took off to Australia with my Death Eaters in pursuit some ancient magic of the aborigines there. Which, wasn't exactly true. During my long time disappearance, I actually travelled through time – I was experimenting with a magical ritual I found in the books. We knew there was a possibility that I would end up in the future due to the side effects of the ritual, so Yaxley and I planned beforehand on how to deal with this. We didn't want to let Dumbledore and this Ministry to know about this, so he and some in my inner circle took off to Australia and research the ancient magic there while waiting for me to reemerge into the timeline. The outside world thought I was with them all the time. So, technically, I'm only in my thirties, around 10 years older than you, probably."

"It's good to know that," she sighed in relief, "it's feeling … a little wrong when I thought I was kissing someone around seventy. Though it did occur to me you don't really look seventy. You look far too young to be seventy. I thought you must've used some spell to retain the young look or something."

"Well, time-travel always works wonders," he said teasingly.

She laughed as she kissed him again.

-TBC-


	6. Arriving at Manhattan

_A.N.: Our aurors are getting closer to the moment of revelation now ... and Hermione wanted to test how Tom would react if she played some heavy metal music. R &R please : )_

* * *

They both knew it was probably unprofessional of them to do so. They both knew they should be focusing on the mission right now and discussing the important details of saving Granger. But somehow, Draco and Blaise ended up kissing each other in the top-class compartment of the Golden Express, savoring in each other's taste.

Draco closed his eyes as his hands laced through Blaise's dark curly hair as they kissed, grabbing it gently. It felt good, and he wondered why he had never considered this before. He'd always wanted for someone to care about him whenever he saw Theo, Pansy and Luna so sweetly together, and Blaise was always the one who knew him best, kept an eye on him, and solved every problem for him. He didn't know why he never had thought that Blaise to be the one for him before, instead, he just sort of took the other man for granted.

He realized how ignorant he had been, and how he really should've appreciate his best friend more. And Merlin, the man really knew how to kiss …

After a while, they slowly pulled away, panting slightly as they did so, "So … are we …" Draco began hesitantly. "Together?"

"Only if you want to," Blaise replied, his voice soft and sincere. "Though I'd be glad if you do."

"Well, I do," Draco smiled slightly, then said a little sternly, "Doesn't mean you're off the hook for switching the mission without telling me."

Blaise looked Draco into the eyes, then gave him a cheeky smile, "Wouldn't dare dream of it, boss."

"Prat," Draco muttered, but there was a hint of fondness in his voice now, and Blaise definitely didn't miss it as he felt something fluttered inside his stomach. To be honest, he was still a little shocked that Draco would actually willing to try with him, but he was grateful. Blaise quirked a small smile again.

"Hey, cut that smile off, I'm reprimanding you," Draco said, but his tone was teasing as he slapped Blaise's arse playfully.

"Yes, boss," Blaise said, but his grin widened. Draco gave him a mock-glare and Blaise laughed out loud before turning serious, "Let's get back to work? We do still have that address to discuss."

Draco nodded, and moved to sit beside Blaise, leaning against the other man slightly as he read this information about the address Yaxley had given them. Blaise moved a little closer towards Draco as he began explaining about some details of the information.

* * *

Hermione was surprised to find Tom had quite a huge collection of music, both magic and muggle ones. Tom laughed easily when he saw her surprised expression, "I shop at both magic and muggle music stores. When I'm at the muggle ones, I dress and act like a muggle and pay with their money, of course."

"I remember you saying earlier that you want to cut the ties between the wizarding world and the muggle world to the minimum, rather unlike Dumbledore who wants to integrate them to extend his power over them and rule over them," Hermione raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Well, this _is_ the minimum," Tom reasoned, "I mostly wanted to avoid a witch-hunt, something that did happen in the history before. But smart people – such as myself –" she snorted in amusement at this and he ignored her, "acting in a muggle way when buying something at a muggle shop, won't actually do any harm. When I said I want to cut the ties to the minimum, I mean about the ties that would be revealing our existence to the muggles. But I can indulge myself in some good music without increasing the possibility of letting Muggles know of magic's existence."

"Alright, point taken," she laughed as she examined his music collections. Quite a few were classical music, which he admitted he loved. He also told her he couldn't stand some hard rock and heavy metal of the 1970's and 1980's, and was really glad that he had travelled through time and missed those two decades. She giggled at that. She remembered her mother used to play some of Iron Maiden's and Avenged Sevenfold's heavy metal songs when she had been younger, and wondered how Tom might react if she played some of their music here. She'd need to try that sometimes, seeing his reaction would be worth all the troubles.

* * *

The Golden Express arrived at New York, and Draco and Blaise put the paper back in their bags and got off. Before stepping out of the compartment, Blaise turned to Draco and said softly, "Thank you."

Draco could see the gratitude in the other auror's eyes. He leant in to give Blaise a quick kiss and said, "Come on, let's go."

New York was lively and energetic and charming and noisy. They could feel the fast pace, the vibration, and the free spirit of the city. They could feel its heavy population as so many people, plenty of them tourists, travelled the streets. They were dressed in all sorts of clothing, and nobody batted an eyelash when anything strange occurred.

And the skyline was breathtaking, drawing Draco's attention right away.

"We'll have time for sightseeing later – hopefully," Blaise sighed, "So … let's go save Granger, then."

What they didn't know was that the Auror Princess didn't need any saving.

* * *

With a simple tracking spell and an address, Blaise and Draco started navigating through Manhattan. Both of them were looking around the city with their sharp eyes as they walked, not wanting to miss anything if something unusual happened. After all, You-Know-Who had set his base here in this city, so anything was possible. You couldn't be too careful when being an auror.

They arrived at the address of the apartment soon enough, and decided to survey the nearby area first, the standard auror procedure. Exchanging a glance with Blaise, Draco gave a small nod towards a particular direction, indicating Blaise to search that part of the nearby area and he would do the opposite direction. Blaise nodded back. Before they parted, Blaise stole a quick kiss from Draco.

"Stop it, Blaise, we're on a mission, in case you've forgotten," Draco hissed, but couldn't help but enjoy the taste of Blaise's mouth when their lips met.

"Yes, boss darling," Blaise smirked teasingly, and quickly turned away and headed towards the area he was supposed to search.

Draco squinted at Blaise's back as he watched the other man left, promising himself to make his boyfriend pay when they got back to London.

-TBC-


	7. Bellatrix, Regulus, and Remus

_A.N.: Some stuff about this AU – Harry's family were never murdered. Lucius Malfoy didn't marry Narcissa Black – you'll see why later. Draco's mother was another woman. (Personally, I guess it's someone from the Greengrass family, maybe Daphne and Astoria's aunt. But she's unlikely to appear in the story.) There are still many things different about this AU and would be explained in this chapter._

 _Sorry for the late update. Hope you all enjoy this chapter - though there's not much romance but more wizarding history in this one._

* * *

Tom was busy with some of his research so he instructed some others to give Hermione a crash course in the real Recent Wizarding History – not the ones taught in Hogwarts under Dumbledore's instructions – while he handled his research. So Hermione was now in a room with a woman with black, curly hair and an aura of wild beauty, a slender man with dark hair, and a tired-looking man with light brown hair. Before they even got started, they heard some cheering from the next room that was watching Quidditch.

The woman with black and curly haired huffed in annoyance, "Bloody loud idiots. Doesn't even remember to cast a spell to keep their noise to themselves. And isn't Sirius supposed to be working with Rabastan on that project today?"

The dark-haired man shrugged, "Maybe. Don't know. It's Remus's turn to watch over him." He turned to the other man expectantly.

The man being called Remus sighed, "In my defense, it's 'that time of the month' for me and taking Wolfsbane makes me want to sleep."

The woman rolled her eyes, "Did you ever see me using 'that time of the month' as excuse for not doing anything?"

"Yeah, pretty often actually, Bellatrix," Remus chuckled in amusement.

"Well, girl privileges," Bellatrix said unabashedly.

"Well, werewolf privileges," Remus mimicked.

The dark-haired man held up a hand and said, "Enough of this banter, I believe the Dark Lord had told us to brief this young lady on the correct version of recent wizarding history." He smiled at Hermione. "Hi, Miss Granger. I'm Regulus Black. This is my cousin Bellatrix Lestrange née Black and this is my brother-in-law, Remus Lupin."

"I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione introduced herself though she suspected Tom had already told them her name. "Why do you call him the Dark Lord? I mean, he's not really, well, responsible for all the things Dumbledore said he's done, right?"

"Because it sounds cool," Bellatrix grinned. "The Ministry and Dumbledore framed us as a gang or a cult that practices the dark arts and torture people and all that, so someone – I forgot who, sort of joked that then Tom is the Dark Lord."

"So, Miss Granger, what did the British Ministry's standard history class taught you about Tom?" Remus asked.

Being the studious student who had paid attention even in the boring History of Magic class, Hermione easily answered this one. "Professor Binns said that he and his gang of Death Eaters—" Regulus snorted slightly at the name Dumbledore had come up with to call them "—brutally murdered a group of Muggleborns and their family. That was … 1945. Dumbledore had long suspected his … hatred towards Muggleborns, and he and the Ministry wanted to capture Tom to send him to Azkaban, but failed because Tom escaped."

"Okay, I heard Tom said you found out by yourself that Dumbledore had framed him for the murders." Regulus looked at Hermione and she nodded to confirm. "Well, so the fact is that after the Muggles just finished some world war of theirs in the 1940s, Dumbledore thought it would be a good time to expand his control and reign to the muggle world since they were particularly vulnerable at that moment. When he revealed that to Tom and expected him to help, Tom refused."

"Our Dark Lord tried to warn some muggleborns that Dumbledore were planning to use and he planned to report to the Ministry about this. Though it turned out the Ministry really was full of Dumbledore's pawns …" Bellatrix scowled.

Remus took over, "The muggleborns and Tom refused to help with Dumbledore and that old coot worried they might threaten his plan, he decided to kill them all. But Tom escaped away before Dumbledore killed him. Dumbledore succeeded in killing the others, though, and framed Tom with the murders. That man's got great influence in the Ministry and the whole wizarding Britain so everyone believed him. Tom had to escape to the continent and go undercover."

"He and his group of Slytherin friends didn't stay in Europe for long, though, when Tom decided to experiment with some ancient magic ritual that had the side-effect of traveling to the future. That's when they took off to Australia. It's ... early 1950s or something. Our whole group stayed there for a long time before he reemerged into the timeline in 1992 and we moved our base to New York. Most of our generation were born in Australia when our parents followed the Dark Lord there." Bellatrix explained.

"I had never met him until he reemerged," Remus admitted. "When I was born it was long after the ancient magic ritual he decided to test out. But we all heard of his stories while growing up."

"Yeah, me too," Regulus said. "Me and Bella's parents were part of Tom's group of Slytherin friends that followed him to Australia. Remus's parents were real Australians. According to mother, Tom took interested in a family friend of theirs first. Fenrir Greyback. They met to discuss some stuff about werewolf magic – Tom was interested in researching about all ancient and forbidden magic not taught at Hogwarts – and they became friends. We met Remus's family much later – but my brother fell in love with Remus the first time they met." He grinned.

Remus grinned, too. "He always claimed I fell in love with him first, though."

"He's lying," said Bellatrix briskly. "Anyway … Dumbledore seemed to think that Tom couldn't do anything to damage him while he's in Australia, far away from Britain Ministry, so they didn't put into much efforts to capture him. After Tom reemerged into the timeline in 1992 and moved to New York in 1995, our group continued the ancient magic research here. We were all doing fine until in 2001 some Dumbledore's pawn took a vacation to New York and very accidentally discovered we'd moved from Australia to here. He reported this back to Dumbledore, and that old coot seemed to be plotting something against us ever since."

Hermione knew about this. When she had graduated from Hogwarts, she had entered the Aurors Squad along with her friends. They started on minor missions but after proven their competency, the Ministry had given them the mission to 'track down You-Know-Who and destroyed the gang of Death Eaters and put them in Azkaban'. Which was why she, the star auror, had went on a research about You-Know-Who three months ago, vowing to bring justice.

And then things had taken an unexpected turn when she had found out that all Tom Riddle's crimes were all framed by Dumbledore. Apparent Dumbledore hadn't expected her to find this out, but Hermione Granger was nothing but brilliant when it came into her investigations.

"So, that about sums things up, Miss Granger," Regulus said easily.

A sudden knock on the door and it was opened rather abruptly. A woman with short-cropped reddish brown hair stuck her head in, "Hey Reg darling, Yaxley said that Miss Granger's rescue team just arrived at the other address."

Remus quietly told Hermione, "That's Yelena Rosier, Regulus's girlfriend."

"They're demanding to see Granger," Yelena nodded towards Hermione. "Put up quite a fight when we're trying to disarm them, those two, or so I've heard. Quite competent for British Aurors. We should head over – just waiting for the Lord to grab the major evidence about Dumbledore so we can convince them."

Tom came into the room not long after, all the evidence they had against Dumbledore prepared. "Ready to go, Hermione?"

"Sure, Tom," Hermione replied, wondering who 'the rescue team' included. Probably Draco Malfoy and one of Blaise Zabini or Theodore Nott, she thought.

Bellatrix leant towards Remus and whispered gleefully, "Told you they're on first name terms. Pay up, werewolf."

Remus rolled his eyes, " _Fine_ , woman."

-TBC-


End file.
